Why do people love Nigel Farage?

Here’s an interesting topic. Nigel Farage, the former UKIP leader, seems to be some form of cultural icon for many Brits. What I want to discover is, well, why is that? Surely a politician who hasn’t won the seat of his constituency since 1999 hasn’t got much going for him. How wrong I was, apparently. According to the right wing anyway.

National hero or national heretic

Good old Nigel is probably best remembered for swanning round the country trying to smash the record of drinking the most amount of pints in one election campaign. Sadly that record is still held by Margaret Thatcher in her final election campaign where she survived mainly off of stolen school milk and the blood of miners.

Back to the facts though, Nigel was sort of seen as just a bloke really. One of the lads. Just a guy who wants to fight for what he believes in, and a lot of people can relate to that persona. He was a working class man who enjoys a pint and wants to speak his mind! You’d be surprised to know that Nigel Farage is actually the son of a rich stockbroker and went to a public school in London. Now I don’t know about you, but that doesn’t sound very working class to me. My grandad was a miner and my dad is an electrician, neither of them were barristers or bankers or stockbrokers.

Farage is probably known best for his stance on immigration. He doesn’t want them bloody people coming over here, taking our jobs which we don’t have in the first place. By that extent, you’d think bringing your German ex-wife and four children into the country is a bit of a faux pas. He’s swindled us! Probably.

Personal Opinion

Nigel Farage has a pint in the Westminster Arms, London.

My opinion on Nigel Farage may actually surprise you. While I stoutly disagree with the majority of his political opinions and also his political wing, as a person I don’t mind him. Maybe that’s because I’ve slotted Farage into “joke candidates” and ranked him at fourth. Just above Mr. Fishfinger but below the Monster Raving Looney Party. (Lord Buckethead is number one of course.)

I see the appeal of his image, I really do. He’s often seen with a pint in his hand, guffawing at how his glass has gone from full to empty much quicker than he expected. That, surprisingly, appeals to a number of people, and he’s hit that nail on the head. I hate to admit it but the way he presents himself in the public eye has garnered him attention, it’s smart.

He’s managed to make a cocoon of personalities for himself, to the point where nobody knows which is actually the real Nigel Farage. You’ll see him with a pint in one photo and the next photo you see him yelling some slightly racist things at a BBC camera. You’d be mistaken for thinking Farage is from Sunderland. But lets look at YouGov, what words describe Nigel Farage?

YouGov, words that describe Farage

So above you can see the most common words associated with Nigel Farage. To be fair the opinions on the left are heard commonly throughout the country. On the right of we have opinions of, what I can only describe as, well, tools. Lets run them down one by one. Not the tools I mean the words on the image above.

“Intelligent” – Is there any evidence for this? Because there’s definite evidence that he’s not intelligent enough to be doing the job he currently holds. Farage represented Britain in the EU as a fishing representative or something equally as dull. He didn’t take this seriously, stirred up hate against the EU and, well, here we are in the shit show that is Brexit.

“Stands up for/in touch with ordinary people” – I refer you to the previous section of this article. The bit where I explained Farage was a posh London boy and that his father was a stockbroker. Sure, he can represent himself as being in touch with the working class, but he’ll never truly understand the struggles that some go through.

“Good speaker” – I’ll give credit where credit is due. He’s a good stand up comedian and radio personality. The problem of course is that “charisma” never really made its way into his actual job. You can pull smug faces in bars with pints in your hand all you want, it doesn’t make you charismatic, patriotic, intelligent or in touch with the people.

Conclusion

What did we learn from this article? If the answer is nothing, I’ve done my job. If anything the only way to find out why people like Farage is to actually ask someone. Unfortunately I don’t actually know anyone who likes Farage. My dad does (I think, sorry if you’re reading this, Dad.), but then again he also liked the Assassin’s Creed movie so his opinion is either satirical or silly.

Although “retiring” from politics some time ago now, Farage manages to weasel his opinion into the framework constantly. Even now as the election comes to a frantically fulfilling close, he’s debating coming back to politics. To give UKIP the push it needs, even though it sort of completed its goal. At this point I don’t really know what Farage wants to achieve. I can guarantee he’ll never be Prime Minister, and he’ll never achieve his goal of being a Lord either. Even if the public and the DUP want it, they need to accept that it simply wont happen.

Nigel Farage is a man who failed to win a seat in the British Parliament and retired from politics to have a radio show. He’s a bit like a racist version of Chris Moyles. Basically, he’s a radio personality now, start treating him like one.